Last weekend saw beautiful weather, and many Sidmouth runners took advantage of the dry, sunny weather to run off-road, writes Sarah Brown.

On Saturday, 44 runners completed the first staging of the ‘Little Long Run’, a 3.8-mile Grade B fell race, which went straight up the valley to Muttersmoor and then straight back down again, with beautiful views in between and a well-deserved BBQ afterwards – very well organised by Graham Hill.

With a 5pm start time, the race was very hot and very hilly! Despite this, the race was won in 32.21 by Chris Gill of Tiverton Harriers, with Kit and Grey Grierson of Sidmouth finishing second and fourth place respectively. There were a further 11 Sidmouth runners finishing within the hour mark, and it was nice to see strong performances from runners not often seen at races, such as Paul Bowler (50.07), Ellie Stone (51.14), Jed Stone (51.32) and Polly Burns (54.27).

Bringing up the rear (after stopping to help a runner recover from dehydration!) were Terry Bewes and John Perratt, who proved that sometimes the most important thing about running is helping one another and not trying to get a good time!

?Saturday also saw Corinna Stephens and Danny Painter complete the Salcombe coastal marathon, another very hilly yet beautiful course.

?On Sunday, two of our fastest runners travelled further afield to compete. Laurence Bolam lined up alongside Mo Farah and other elite athletes to run the London Bupa 10k, which he completed in 35.45, placing him 172nd out of approximately 10,000 runners.

Jessica Raynor (nee Watkins) travelled even further afield and completed the Edinburgh Marathon, not only in a very quick time of 3hrs 26, but also beating her previous personal best by 18 minutes and she even got a sun tan on the way round!

Much closer to home, Sunday also saw the Sid Vale Athletic Meeting, with several races – ranging from a 60m dash for children, to a slightly longer race around the Byes and through the river; contested closely by Milan Goc and Aaron Smith.

all of which was presided over by John Perratt and his megaphone!

All in all a busy weekend for many club members, with excellent performances in testing conditions! Club secretary and birthday boy, Colin Flood took the weekend off but celebrated with a club run followed by chocolate brownies and bucks fizz up at Muttersmoor. Happy Birthday Colin.